Christie’s Old Masters Sale Finds Its Market — and Its Records — in London
A 40-lot evening sale in London showed that the Old Masters market still has room for disciplined bidding when the material is exceptional. Christie’s Old Masters Evening Sale landed within its pre-sale estimate of roughly £25 million to £37.5 million, then finished at 96 percent by value and 90 percent by lot, with only three lots passed and one withdrawn before the block.
The night’s clearest signal came from Sir Thomas Lawrence’s portrait of the Duke of Wellington, which sold for £9.67 million ($12.8 million) and set a new world auction record for the artist. The result gave the sale its highest price and confirmed that top-tier names, especially those with strong historical resonance, continue to command serious competition.
Jan van Huysum emerged as another major beneficiary. His still life of peaches and grapes, packed with plums, raspberries, currants, melon, hazelnuts, and flowers, brought £6.52 million ($8.65 million) against an estimate of £3 million to £4 million. A companion floral still life, arranged in a sculpted terracotta vase with a bird’s nest nearby, followed at £5.54 million ($7.35 million) on a £2.5 million to £3.5 million estimate. Both works established new records for the Dutch painter.
Christie’s gave the pair unusually detailed catalogue treatment, tracing their provenance through prominent European collections. One of the pictures had once so captivated Caroline Louise, Margravine of Baden, that she spent three years trying to secure it through her Paris agent, who later described it as the “most brilliant” Van Huysum he knew.
The sale also showed how far a compelling image can travel, even without a famous name attached. A 17th-century Dutch vanitas still life catalogued only as the work of a “Dutch School” painter, and estimated at £80,000 to £120,000, sold for £431,800, more than five times its low estimate. Nearby, Girolamo da Santacroce’s Renaissance history painting of Mehmed II meeting Gennadius after the fall of Constantinople in 1453 climbed to £673,100 ($892,000) from a £100,000 to £150,000 estimate.
Christie’s also set new auction highs for Jan van Mieris, Girolamo da Santacroce, Adélaïde Labille-Guiard, and John Melhuish Strudwick. The evening suggested a market that is selective rather than broadly exuberant: buyers passed on weaker or less certain lots, but moved decisively when quality, rarity, and provenance aligned.
